This weekly group, which will meet 30 minutes per week for 8 weeks, will learn about social skills. This course will teach teens how to read social cues, greet, initiate/maintain conversations, identify expected/unexpected behaviors, make friends, and so much more. Class time will include direct instruction of social skills through lectures, PowerPoints, YouTube videos, and interactive games, such as Jeopardy or online board games. Guided practice of conversational skills will occur through this group setting during activities such as show and tell (no breakout rooms). Extensive research on the effects of social skills instruction on teens shows that these programs are effective in reducing experiences of school failure or rejection as well as the aggressiveness and isolation that often develop because of problems relating to others. Please note that this is a group/class and is NOT therapy. 

The class is more instructional than conversational in nature. The weekly curriculum is as follows:
Week 1. Greetings, initiating a conversation
Week 2. Maintaining a conversation
Week 3. Verbal/nonverbal social cues (e.g., facial expressions, body language)
Week 4. Expected versus unexpected behaviors in various situations
Week 5. Social filter, thinking before speaking, self-control, emotional regulation
Week 6. Conflict resolution
Week 7. Identifying friends, qualities in a good friend
Week 8. Course wrap up